Despite everything that is going on in Kerala, the state has been adjudged the best governed state under the large States category in the Public Affairs Index-2020 released by the Karnataka based Public Affairs Centre (PAC) on Friday. In the small state category, Goa has been ranked first.
In the large state category, Uttar Pradesh has ended at the bottom while in the small state, Manipur has been ranked as the worst performer.
According to the PAC, the governance performance is analysed in the context of sustainable development defined by the three pillars of equity, growth and sustainability. The Karnataka based not-for-profit organisation is headed by former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K Kasturirangan. In their annual report it mentions that states were ranked based on governance performance on a composite index in the context of sustainable development.
In terms of governance, Southern states — Kerala (1.388), Tamil Nadu (0.912), Andhra Pradesh (0.531) and Karnataka (0.468) were ranked as the top 4 states in the large state category, the report said. In the bottom of the ranking were UP (-1.461), Odisha (-1.201) and Bihar (-1.158).
In the small state category, Goa is ranked first with 1.745 points, followed by Meghalaya (0.797) and Himachal Pradesh (0.725). Manipur (-0.363), Delhi (-0.289) and Uttarakhand (-0.277) were the worst performers with negative points, the report said.